Hi, we are from Sussex and we did a 3 night safari in Kenya back in 2007 so nothing like this trip. I am so excited and a bit nervous. My biggest issue at the moment is deciding on how many dollars or sterling to bring as its a tad confusing reading the reviews.

Have you done one of these trips before? We will have to meet up somewhere at Heathrow before we board the plane. not long now :-)

Who are you travelling with?
I did a cross country tour of America last year with a different company but it was also travelling in a group, in a mini van and camping. Have never been anywhere with exodus before and never been to Africa.
Yes we are also struggling with how much to take :S
Will defo need to meet up at Heathrow, think our flight gets us there about 4 hours too early haha!

Blimey.. your adventure starts early. We are roughly about 2 hours away from Heathrow and will be driving up.

I asked that when we booked the trip and apparently everyone will be on the same flight unless there are people that are joining the group in Kigali. The connection from Nairobi to Kigali is a tad tight so would be good to know who the other people are so we can all make a mad dash for the connecting flight. We will have to arrange a meeting point in Heathrow somewhere, maybe we should all put our safari hats on so we can recognise each other.................. ha ha ha

Everyone should be on the same flight that are leaving from the UK, I wonder how big our group will be. No I haven't heard from anyone else, you were the only that responded, don't forget to have a red rose with the safari hat and mosquito net - ha-ha

Just back from this trip ( Kigali to Nairobi). It is awesome!
I booked late and had the same questions re cash so I thought I'd share my experience.
You need $100 for visas if you are British and don't have them for Kenya and Uganda, more if you are from other countries.
At least another $170 or so for tips - depends how generous you are.
Most meals are included, water is provided so budget for drinks and snacks - beer costs around $2 throughout the tour.

There are a few opportunities for shopping and overall prices seemed about the same as other places I've been - depends what kind of stuff you buy I guess.

The Masai Mara balloon trip is $450 and you can use a credit card for that. White water rafting is $125 and you can use cards there too (5% surcharge though). For most of the trip you can use Visa but not Mastercard.

You get better rates for exchanging larger notes - $50 rather than $10s or $20s

I took about $400 but didn't do much souvenir shopping and that was enough including paying in cash for the rafting.

My other tip is to travel light. Our group was small so space was not an issue but the lockers on the bus are small. You can do laundry in Jinja so plan on enough clothes for a week if you are short of space. Take warm clothes for the camping nights (and earplugs!). Ther are opportunities to upgrade accommodation on some nights in Kenya. I paid around $35 on the last night as we were on a campsite in the grounds of a lovely lodge with 100s of others sharing the showers and if you are with the group flight you don't get a room in Nairobi - you are dropped at the hotel the next morning but fly back at midnight (land only clients have rooms).

If you plan to visit the orphanage in Uganda you might think about taking a few pencils or something. We didn't and felt a bit empty-handed. They are most desperate for clothes just in case you have anything you'd like to take.

We finished in Nairobi. The hotel is secure and we went out to a local market though I would have been uncomfortable alone - never unsafe but just worried about being ripped off. Negotiating a price directly with a taxi driver rather than a broker saved 30%.

I'd love to be back there with you - it's a fantastic experience - enjoy yourselves!

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